Article:		A Guide That Takes the Sci-Fi Out Of Wi-Fi
Subject:		I love oreilly, but...
Date:		2004-06-07 09:45:33
From:		GJJ
T-Mobile hotspots are doomed to failure in my opinion. They are way to costly. I am more likely to spend my three hours in the used bookstore with the no-name cafe down the street that offers FREE wireless. Or I could head to the library. Or I could check out Schlotski's. Now that you mention it, McDonalds is cheaper (if I am hungry) and the Flying J gas station is free as well. There are enough Free players out there... even in the podunk areas where I live that T-Mobile just doesn't make sense. As an example, I carry my Zaurus with a cheap WCF12 802.11b card with me everywhere. On a recent trip to Chicago we wanted to find out the times of some local theater shows. There was a Borders down the road where I could pay outrageous prices (even if a subscriber) for this tidbit of information. Instead we asked someone walking by if they knew where any coffe shop/cafe's were and they pointed to one down the street. Sure enough, they had free wireless and we checked our show times, bought a cappacino, and were on our way. I don't see t-mobile competing with this. Now, if it were free to t-mobile phone subscribers, I could see that as being a plan that would work. "oh look, Honey. As an added bonus of signing up with t-mobile we can use any t-mobile hotspot for 5 hours a month for free. Let's go with this plan" Otherwise... they are toast.

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

• I love oreilly, but...
  2004-06-08 02:25:14  jwenting [View]
  
  
  It would be so nice if everything were free...
  Expect the majority of those free accesspoints to disappear rather quickly once they start counting what it costs them to offer the service and what it brings in return.
  
  Unless that cafe gets a lot more people (probably overloading them, causing disgruntled customers because service takes too long) who order more than a single cheap drink and nourish that for the hours they're online they'll either stop the service or start charging in order to survive.
  
  Borders took the logical step of charging from the outset instead of getting people used to having it for free and then suddenly introduce a pricing plan.
  More honest that way I'd say.
• I love oreilly, but...
  2007-08-10 13:36:44  GJJ [View]
  
  
  3 years later and I have to say that you may just be right.
  
  In this case, though, technology like EVDO may be the better option. Coverage is still less locationally oriented... which does seem like something worth paying for.
  
  And...
  
  I have run into the same problems that you describe. So pay services have their place.
• I love oreilly, but...
  2007-08-10 13:35:19  GJJ [View]
  
  
  3 years later and I have to say that you may just be right.
  
  In this case, though, technology like EVDO may be the better option. Coverage is still less locationally oriented... which does seem like something worth paying for.
  
  And...
  
  I have run into the same problems that you describe. So pay services have their place.